To trade or not to trade? CX-5 for Prius

Good morning all,

First time poster, long time lurker here at Prius Chat. Looking for advice from strangers on if I'm crazy or not, lol.

I have a 2013 Mazda CX-5 Sport (lowest level). Has 57k miles and is in great condition. I am the only owner and the car is paid off. I have a 50 mile round trip commute and while my CX-5 is no slouch earning 30 mpg combined, I'd love to get better gas mileage. Cue the oppurtunity:

I've found a 2011 Prius III that looks to be in excellent condition. One owner, complete maintenance history and clean carfax, no accidents. Model year is deceiving, it is actually only 1 year older than my Mazda. Mileage not bad on the Prius, its currently at 117k. Looking at the maintenance history, it looks like its only due for spark plugs. Not sure if the transmission fluid was ever changed per carfax records, I'd likely do that myself too.

If I were to trade (arguably down) to the Prius, I'd likely net $3k in cash as my Mazda's market value for trade in is higher than what I'd pay for the Prius. Not to mention I wouldn't have to pay sales tax if I did the trade.

Would you consider it? My wife thinks I'm crazy. We admittedly have a good deal of attachment to our Mazda. Its the first car we've ever paid off and owned outright. And this Prius is over double the mileage of our current vehicle. I think if I plan for maintenance costs down the road (i.e., worst case scenario needing a battery replacement in 3-8 years, etc.), its not the worst idea to contemplate. Thanks for being my sanity check!

 

ETC, thanks for your thorough and insightful input!!!

You're definitely correct on the trade. They are going to have to give me the right deal or it is completely not worth it. Going to check out a CarMax today to see what they appraise my CX-5 at. I hear the local one will give you damn near private party value so I'll see if that story holds true. Wish I had the time to sell private party to save at least a grand. If I can't get a good value, I'm sticking with my tried and true trusty paid off CX5.

And amen on the significant other and anything going wrong down the road, lol! I've had to research costs and such for doing repairs on the Prius just in case things fail, making sure I'm capable of doing any repairs (trying to avoid the inevitable "I told you so"). Looking at the service history it looks like they did 10k oil changes with a service visit every 5k for inspection. I'm pretty sure my wife wouldn't mind me springing for an inspection at a Toyota dealer prior to purchase so that's a must. Going to start reading through the oil consumption threads now.

Thank you for the heads up on the EGR stuff. I was actually surfing those forums just a few minutes before your reply! Didn't see water pump yet, will check that out too.

The transaxle fluid makes sense. I've seen from other threads that Toyota dealers are saying it'll take 12 quarts of fluid, etc etc, sign a waiver because it might kill transmission, etc. Clearly not informed on how to do it. Like some people I'm on the fence with "lifetime" fluids. My CX-5 has lifetime fluid in the transmission, but is easy to drain and fill. I did that proactively at 50k and will continue to do so every 50k. I sent a sample in to Blackstone Labs and the fluid was "ok", but it was actually "slightly below spec as far as the viscosity" goes. They guessed it was likely due to heat.

Thank you for the warm welcome! It's hard posting on boards like these out of worry of being flamed. But, I learn a helluva lot from them and I'm willing to take some lumps lol!

 

1. Lexus dealer. Looks like owner traded it in there for a new vehicle. Was serviced down the street from the Lexus dealer by AutoNation Toyota every 5k (w/ 10k oil changes).

2. Thank you sir, would do. Guessing they traded at 117k to avoid that added maintenance fee.

3. Getting a thorough education in that. Kind of scary as hell. Wonder if any CX5 owners are experiencing that as well possibly due to 0W-20? I think ETC could be on to something there. Will have to check if they have the service records on hand so I can read the notes.

4. Not yet, scheduled to do so.

5. Yes, ~$500 a year savings.

6. Thanks buddy, you too!

 

Thank you guys!

Carmax gave me a really low offer so that’s off the table. After researching the Gen3 more thoroughly, I’m considering the Gen2 more. A used Prius dealer just listed a 2009 #6 fully loaded, 100k miles for $7k. Price seems really good. Waiting to get the Carfax though, worried it’s been in an accident for that price.

You all are right. If I pull the trigger on this idea, I have to sell my current vehicle private party to make it worth it.

 

Carfax looks pretty good. This gen2 has new tires and brakes as of a few thousand miles ago. No reported accidents! Only red flag I’m seeing is 4 previous owners, and four entries for headlight replacement (maybe not bad, could have been driver and passenger replaced 2x each)...

Started it’s life as a Toyota fleet vehicle in Iowa. Sold as certified preowned with 40k miles. Went through 3 owners over the next 6 years, making its way to Florida about 2-3 years ago. No major components ever replaced in the Carfax. I’ll have to ask the dealer if he has any actually documents for the maintenance.

 

Thanks fellas. The current prospect would be an 09 with 100k miles, ~$4.5k thrown into savings between purchase of Prius and private sale of my current vehicle. Wife came around a bit to this one because of extra savings and this one is fully loaded, but multiple owners has us both a bit spooked. I’m starting to side with crazy too, lol!!! Being able to stash that away and save $500 a year in gas was just too much for me to not look into. This will likely be my last attempt at looking into it

Again, you guys are awesome.

 

Gung ho? Ha! Not by any means. Those like you that were kind enough to respond are Prius owners yourselves. Best people in the world to ask and a wealth of information. If you guys wouldn’t do it, why should we?

My wife and I have been reading and thinking about your feedback for days, and we are going to keep our current vehicle and save for one down the road

(And there was much rejoicing)

 

Exactly! Gen2 right now as there are more available locally at a better price, but as we are going to save for one in a couple years time, it’ll likely be a gen3, maybe even a gen4 by that time.

 

Yes, it has direct injection. It’s the older 2 liter they don’t offer anymore, your son got the much peppier 2.5 liter for a grand sacrifice of only 1 mpg

I’ve followed the forums over at Mazda’s 24/7 and there doesn’t seem to be a problem with carbon build up at all. Supposedly Mazda got it right by keeping temperatures in the manifold over 400 degrees while the engine is running to minimize carbon build up.

Best advice seems to be running the car hard every so often after it reaches operating temperature. Like gunning it when merging on the highway weekly to hit max rpms. Long sustained drives on the highway like my commute should minimize any build up as well.

Some have installed catch cans as they thought it would help minimize what seems to be a nonexistent issue. However, after years of people chiming in over there, it seems what the can catches over 7500 miles is a very minimal amount of oil. Mostly moisture. I’ve never had engine issues, but I’ve noticed motor oil looks dirty as hell out of a direct injection engine. Ran Amsoil several times back to back, now Mobil 1 as its so much cheaper. Oil will test just fine, but holy cow is it black after moderate use!

My mother in law just got a 2018 as well. Beautiful car, tell your son congrats for me!